Hello folks! My apologies for the lack of posting. Like I said before, we are just adjusting to life with baby Charlotte. Also, we had a bit of a computer issue where it would shut down every five minutes. But thanks to the Internet and YouTube, I was able to identify the issue and solve it. Who needs the Geek Squad? Not this guy. OK, well we have been trying to get control of things ever since the drama of Charlotte's birth. I have gone back to work, and Laura's mother is now back home in Sly Town. So right now it is just us three together. Laura doing an amazing job with her scheduling and her overall mommy skills. After everything that went on, I am so thankful to have her back to her normal self. She also looks great! She is just a few lbs. away from her pre-pregancy weight. Amazing, I know.



This next week is an exciting one for us. Charlotte will be four weeks old, and she will be going on her first road trip. I'm taking two days off so we can take her to my mom's house in Toccoa, and to my dad's mountain house for a family gathering. This will be the first time Charlotte gets to meet her aunt Courtney, and her new cousins Bates and Jack. So, we have a big week in store, and ,oh yeah, college football starts! Go Dawgs! This video is a recent one of Charlotte, and let me tell you, she is growing so freaking fast! Enjoy!

Grant

Play Time

Just a quick update. Laura and Charlotte are doing great. Right now we are just trying to adjust to life with a baby. Life is good, and we are all enjoying our time together.




Grant

Charlotte's Arrival

Charlotte Grace Wood was born Tuesday morning weighing in at 5lbs & 5ozs and 18 & ½ inches long. As many of you may have heard it was quite an eventful morning. It is hard for me to write this entry only because I do not have memory of many of the events that took place that day. I am sure the story would be much better coming from Grant but he has said that there is no way that he could write this entry. I am going to try and give the details that I have collected from talking with Grant and my family. I would like to first of all say that God is Great! I am a walking miracle. The day after the birth of our beautiful baby girl I had people from all over the hospital coming to see me because they could not believe that I had made it through the many events that took place the day before.

To start, my c-section was scheduled for Tuesday August 3 at 6:45am. Grant and I were woken and moved to the labor and delivery operating prep room. I received my epidural and was prepareded for surgery there. This part I remember very well! It all happened so fast. We were moved to the OR and about ten minutes later I could hear the voice of our beautiful baby girl! Grant and I were so excited! I was crying; Grant was jumping up and down. It was amazing! As soon as they put Charlotte on my chest I knew things were not what they should be. I was losing blood and I was losing it fast. I remember saying, "I don't feel well" and the nurse saying "Ok daddy, it's time to leave". After that, it was lights out for me. Apparently, the Accreta that the doctors thought I had was worse than what they thought. When they tried to separate the placenta from the uterine wall I began to bleed and I lost a great amount of blood before they could stop the bleeding. By the time that they got the bleeding under control I had coded. The doctors called a code blue and I eventually ended up receiving 23 units of blood. Of course I do not remember any of this but I think this is a moment in time that Grant and my family will never forget. Grant was taken along with Charlotte to a transition room where he had to wait to hear what was happening to me. My dad said the worst part of the day was when the Chaplin of the hospital came into the waiting room and asked for the family to follow her to a separate waiting area. Eventually everyone received word that I was stable and being moved to the radiology operating room to have a procedure done that could hopefully save my uterus. Unfortunately, this procedure did not work. I was then moved to the main hospital operating room for a hysterectomy. Once my third and final surgery of the day was finished I ended up in ICU. So to recap time, the baby was born around 7:10 am and I ended up in ICU around 3:00 pm. I received 23 units of blood, had three surgeries and my family had to wait while all of this was going on. At one point I had 8 IVs with one in a major artery. This IV had five connecting units. It stayed in until the day that I left. The next memory I have after seeing my baby girl for the first time is waking up in ICU on a ventilator. I spent the rest of the day and most of the day after in ICU. On Wednesday, I was finally taken off of the ventilator and moved back to HRP (high risk pregnancy). The next several days are a major blur. All I remember is the pain. My nurses were great. They helped me every step of the way. Each day I improved more and more and finally I was released to come home on Saturday August 7. My doctors and nurses were very proud that I had made such a quick recovery. My motivation was Charlotte. I did not want her coming home without me. I worked very hard each day to make sure that we would all come home as a family.




Grant deserves Husband and Father of the century award. He has been through so much and yet accomplished so much. My mother and everyone else says that he is the best swaddler they have ever seen. He rotated between the nursery to feed Charlotte and then back to HRP to be at my bedside. He is the most amazing husband and father. I am so happy to spend the rest of my life with the amazing family we have created. Today is his first day back at work and I know that he is hurting. Last night he told me that he was going to quite his job and stay home with me and Charlotte forever. The only problem is that we would then have to move into a box somewhere due to no income.


My family has also been unbelievable. The first memory I have in ICU is waking up with my daddy sitting next to me holding my hand. I think he continued to do that for the rest of the night and most of the next day. My mother is my rock. She has been cooking and cleaning and helping in every way she can. I don't know what I will do when she has to leave. My sister is also wonderful. She has helped Grant and I so much. She is our go to person for advise and help. Grant's family has also been great. They have cleaned our house, built our basement, and worked to make things as comfortable as possible for our new family. As you can tell, Grant and I are blessed to have an amazing family.





Finally, to the star of the show. Baby Charlotte. She is doing great. I know that people tell you that motherhood is amazing but I am here to tell you that until you feel that first touch, or hear that first cry you will never know this amazing feeling. Charlotte is the most amazing little girl I have ever met. I am blessed to be her mother. Everyone has been asking me if I am tired. I keep telling them that I am happy. My favorite part of the day is at two in the morning when it is just the two of us. We cuddle; she takes a bottle and I feel like the luckiest person in the world.


I thank God that I am here today to experience his amazing miracles. I pray that I continue to heal so that I can only experience his blessings more. Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers. Grant and I hope to share Charlotte Grace with you all very soon.



** When I get some time, I will share my side of Charlotte’s birth story, but for now, I will use the pictures of Charlotte and myself to describe how I felt. If you notice, I am neither smiling or frowning in these pictures. It is kind of a half smile. It was the best I could do at the time. I experienced both the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in a matter of minutes. As I looked into the eyes of my little girl, I was so happy and amazed she was finally here but also distraught that I might have lost Laura. It was an emotional rollercoaster that is hard to describe.

Grant

The Final Countdown!!!

Only two more days! As we get closer, I keep getting more and more excited. Monday we will see Dr. K for the final ultrasound. He wants to get a final guess at her weight and final look at the condition of the placenta. After that, Grant and I are going to come back to our room and rest, rest, rest. The nurses will pick us up at 4:45am and take me to pre-op. Here they will prep me for surgery. The actual surgery will begin at 6:45am.
What an exciting day! Baby Charlotte is a very lucky girl. She will share her birthday with two very important people. The first is her aunt Courtney which we hope and pray that Charlotte will be like in every way! The second is her soon to be very first friend. My friend, Dana is scheduled to delivery on Tuesday as well. As you can imagine when we found out that we would be delivering on the same day we both started screaming in excitement. These girls are destined to be great friends. They will be born on the same day in the same hospital. Unbelievable!

Here a few pictures showing our final preparations for Miss Charlotte’s arrival.

These are the outfits we plan to dress her in while in the hospital....



This is a picture of Charlotte's going home outfit....
I can't wait to see how the hat fits her. Thank you Aunt Haley!!!

Ready or Not, Here She Comes!!!!

It's official! We are scheduled to deliver Charlotte Grace by C-Section Tuesday morning at 6:45. Grant and I are so excited!

The Basement is Done!!!!

5 Years

Grant and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary this past Friday. Sweet Grant did an amazing job putting everything together. Since I couldn't go out to do anything he brought the outside to me. He ordered my favorite meal from my favorite restaurant and he even brought real plates and silverware from home. He finished it all of with a candle. I can think of many places that I would rather be for my five year anniversary besides the hospital but there is no one in the world that I would rather be with. I am one lucky girl!




Well, we have made it to the single digits! 9 days and counting. I am so excited that I can't stand it. I hope that this week will go by quickly and smoothly. I have been having regular contractions at about 15 to 20 minutes apart for about 2 days now. My doctor said that we are going to continue to monitor the contractions and as long as they stay below 4 an hour then we will just ride things out until August 3. If the contractions get any closer together then they are going to discuss delivering me early. They will not, at this point, take any action to slow the contractions. I hope we make it to August 3. I want everything to be planned and clam and easy. Here's hoping :)

I plan to spend the week getting ready for her arrival (mentally). I am going to force Grant to spend the night at home this week so that he can get good rest! We both need to get our sleep. Apparently newborns don't sleep that often. I know that may be shocking to some but I have had like 50 people tell me this lately :)

Keep checking back this week. I will keep everyone updated on the preparations for Charlotte's arrival.

12 days to go....

Today is an exciting day. I have been here, at Northside Hospital, for 15 days. Apparently, the insurance companies think that 15 days is the perfect amount of days of sleeping on a hard horrible mattress because today I get a new and improved mattress. I wonder who decided that 15 days was the magic number because my back has been hurting since day 2, not day 15. Anyway, I have learned that if they offer you an upgrade you take it. So, I will hopefully get my new mattress sometime this afternoon... Wahoo!
Health wise things have been pretty good. I had a little action this week with contractions so they once again put me on an IV of fluids and gave me another round of Trebutaline. This is a picture of one of my contractions. I had to take a picture because it was by far the most painful one that I have had. After consulting with my doctor this will be the last time that I take a dose of Trebutaline. At this point he wants to let the contractions play out and see what happens. Since our delivery date is quickly approaching he doesn't see the need in postponing delivery if my body decides that it is time. Simply put, if I begin to have labor contractions again they will probably go ahead and deliver me. There is a running poll of when I will be delivered. I personally think that it will hold off until August 3. I really hope that it does so that my personal OB doctor will be the one to deliver Charlotte and not someone in her practice. Not much to report otherwise. I am trying to stay busy with magazines, books, movies, and occasional company. Only 12 more days. Hopefully they will go by fast. I can't wait to meet our sweet baby Charlotte!!!!
Enjoy this video of Charlotte on the monitor. The number on the left side of the screen is her heartbeats per minute.

UPDATE: Not much to report? I would say tomorrow is a big day!

Grant

Passing the Time....

I am on day 8 of my hospital stay and so far it seems to be going by pretty fast. There are a few updates to report that have occurred since the last posting. The first and probably most important is that my OB Dr. A has extended my stay and therefore Charlotte's birthday by one week to August 3. As you can imagine this was a big blow at first. I was getting really excited that her birthday was approaching so quickly but now it looks like we will just have to wait a few more days. Dr. A has very good reasons for extending the time. There are two major things that we will avoid if we make it to August 3. First, we will avoid having to do an amniocentesis. This is a test that is done by extracting amniotic fluid from the womb. It is the only sure way that the doctors can determine if her lungs are fully developed. If we make it to August they can pretty much guarantee her lung development so the amino will not be needed at that point. Second, Charlotte will avoid a stay in the NICU. This would mean that she will not have to have a feeding tube or oxygen support. It also means that she would be ready to come home when they discharge me. I am trying to not get upset about the extended stay. I have to keep reminding myself of the amazing award that I will receive once all of this is over. I want to give Charlotte the best start at life that I possibly can and if that means living at Northside for a month then that is what I will do.
In the mean time I am trying to stay occupied. I have to thank Julie for her weekly lunch visits. What a great friend to spend her lunch break at a hospital! I also have to thank my sister for coming and spending the night with me. She even convinced the nurses to let her take me on a wheel chair ride outside so that I could get some fresh air and vitamin D. It was the first time I had been outside in a week! Yesterday was the day of visitors. My mother in law and father in law (Cindy & Larry) brought me lunch and spent the hour with me, Brent and Lindsay Lanier paid a visit after work and brought books, and DVDs, and flowers, and last my mother in law Dianne came after dinner with dessert. I feel very blessed to have so many people who care.
I will continue to update the blog periodically. My next big appointment will be Monday with the perinatal specialist. At this appointment we will get an update on Charlotte's growth and we will also get an official delivery date.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Weekend Update

16 days to go!
Not much goes on in a hospital on the weekend. Things have been pretty quiet. Overall, I am doing pretty well. The meds that they have me on have almost stopped the contractions. I am down to having one or two per hour. My blood pressure has also evened itself out. This is all great news because that means our little girl will hopefully make it to 36 weeks. There is still no verdict on the gestational diabetes. The doctor is going to continue to monitor me and if things don't improve by tomorrow I will probably have to do the 1-hour screening again. Hopefully everything is fine and it is just my body reacting to the meds.
Friday I had a visit from a nurse in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). She basically wanted to go over a few things with me so that I would know what to expect if Charlotte is born soon. She said that if Charlotte is born before 35 weeks then we should expect her to stay in the NICU for a few nights. She may end up having to have a feeding tube and oxygen depending on how she is doing. She had mostly positive things to say and it really helped hearing how they handle different situations. Our goal is to make it to 36 weeks so that our baby girl will not need assistance and can come home with us when we are ready to leave.
My next appointment is tomorrow morning with the perinatal specialist. They will do an ultrasound to check in on Charlotte's growth. They will also check to see if my cervix has stopped thinning. Tuesday I will see my regular OB and hopefully we will schedule a time for the delivery.
Charlotte has been extremely active. Yesterday she was so crazy that her heartbeat got up to 180 bpm while I was on the monitor. The nurses say that this is just the sign of a healthy baby so I am not letting myself worry. I wonder if this is a sign of how active she will be when she is born. If it is then I better get my rest now!

Yesterday was day 2 of my hospital stay. Overall it was a pretty good day. I am getting a little bit more used to hospital life. First of all my nurses are wonderful! Lori and Andy have been my nurses so far. I think they work 3 days on and 3 off so today is probably my last day with them. Hopefully everyone is as nice as they are!
The contractions have calmed down some. I am still having cramps and irritability but I am not having the major contractions that I was having two days ago. I was on the monitor for an hour today and only had two contractions. Huge improvement! Two new concerns are my blood sugar and blood pressure. My blood sugar is too high and my blood pressure is too low. With the blood sugar they are concerned about gestational diabetes. I had high levels of sugar in both my urine and blood samples. The doctors think that this could be caused by some of the medication that I am on. They are going to give me another day and then run a 1-hour blood screen to test for gestational diabetes. This is a test where you fast for 1 hour and then give a blood sample. I had this done at 28 weeks and everything was fine. Hopefully everything will check out fine again. The doctor said that there are no major risks to worry about with this. They just want to get everything under control. We will learn more soon I am sure. The low blood pressure is something that I have always had. Pregnancy has a tendency to lower your blood pressure even more. On top of that the medicine that I am on to help with the contractions can lower your blood pressure even more. They will not give me this medicine unless my blood pressure measures a minimum of 100/50. Last night and this morning my blood pressure stayed between 110/42 and 110/45. Finally at about 11am today I measured at 110/50 so that meant I got the medicine.
Yesterday afternoon I got a chance to attend a breast feeding class that was great. I not only learned alot but I got to meet some of the other women in High Risk Pregnancies. It really made me feel bad about complaining so much. First of all I was the furthest along out of all the women and my condition was the least concerning. One woman was 25 weeks and just admitted because she is carrying twins. One boy and one girl. A few days ago the water for the boy had broken. Another woman was 23 weeks along and already 9 cm dilated. The next woman's water had broken at 19 weeks. She was at about 26 weeks when I met her. One woman had placenta problems and her baby was not receiving enough nutrition. She has a two year old at home and has been in the hospital for almost a month. My hearth broke for all of them. Overall you can see that there are so many scary things that can happen. It really put my situation in a whole new perspective. I am thankful for making it this far and I am looking forward to the arrival of a healthy baby! Again thank you for all of your prayers but please pray for all of the mothers who are in High Risk Pregnancies.
On a good note, my nurses are lobbing me a bigger room with a view. The room I am in now is fine but I will take what I can get. Apparently I am on a wait list. I'll keep you updated on the upgrades! Today is pet visit day. No this doesn’t mean that Rusty and Tux get to visit (I wish! I miss them so much!). It means that they have hospital companions that will make rounds. Everyone knows how much I love pets so I am really looking forward to this!
I hope everyone is staying cool out there! I hear it is hot, hot, hot!

Hospital Day 1

Day 1 Recap: Only 18 more to go….

Yesterday was a pretty eventful day and we were pretty tired by the time it was over. We checked into our room in HRP (high risk pregnancy) at Northside Hospital around 10:30. By 10:45 I was on the monitor. I spent about 45min. to an hour on the monitor and in that time I had about 8 to 10 contractions. Not Good! At that point my nurse who I had just met came in and said "well I have the doctor on her way". "We may send you to Labor and Delivery if we can't get the contractions under control". Both Grant and I were shocked! By then, I had about 4 people in my room giving me shots in different places, inserting an IV, and taking blood all at the same time. I sure have come a long way from the girl who used to be afraid of needles! I received a dose of Betamethasone (Celestone) which helps with lung development for the baby. I already received a round of this at 28 weeks and I will receive another round of this tomorrow. I also received Terbutaline which is medicaiton used in pregnancy to stop birth contractions when labor starts too early. The Terbutaline was not fun. I gave me the jitters and made me feel like I was going to jump out of my skin. Thankfully I only had to have one does of this because the contractions subsided. The nurse said that as long as I am not having more than four contractions per hour then I should be ok (I won't need another dose). I am also taking Procardia which is an oral medication that is supposed to help with contractions as well. This does not have as many side effects. Try not to get bogged down with all of the medicine stuff. This is really just for my nurse friends (Amanda!) and for me to remember later down the road. So, after I received several shots and pills, etc. they decided that the contractions had relaxed enough that we wouldn't have to deliver. When I finally saw the doctor she said that they will do everything they can to get me to 35 weeks. She said that the only reason I would have to deliver early is if there is any bleeding which would be caused by contractions. She is hoping that they can control the contractions and by doing so they hope to control the bleeding. After experiencing all of that, Grant and I both realize that being in the hospital is a necessary step. We are in excellent hands and they are doing everything they can to give us a healthy baby! Last night as we laid down to try and get some sleep Grant look at me and said “We almost had a baby today”. I am not sure if he said it with shock or relief 

Grant was so kind to take some pictures of our room and of me. These were taken before the chaos ensued. I look just lovely (swollen)! Please be kind in your reactions :)

Hospital

Well, the verdict is in... I am in the hospital for the duration. We saw dr. k today and he decided that it is best for me to be here. He said that Charlotte could be born tomorrow or next week. I am continuing to have contractions and my cervix is thinning, all signs that labor could happen soon or it could still take a few weeks. Charlotte is doing great. She weighs 4 lbs & 6 ounces and is moving like crazy.
Overall, I am doing pretty good. I had a minor breakdown when I first got into my room but I am doing better now. I think the realization that I won't be home for a while is the hardest part. I know this may sound silly to some but I am going to miss my dogs! I made sure to give them big hugs before I left this morning.
Thanks for your continued prayers and support.

Hi everyone! I hope you all had an excellent holiday weekend!
Grant and I are getting ready for a VIDA (very important doctor's appointment). Tomorrow we will be seeing doctor K at 8:15 in the morning. At this time he will be making the call about my hospital stay. At our last appointment he told us that he would see how we are doing and that I might be able to stay home another week if things looked good. We will just have to wait and see. We are preparing to stay at the hospital just in case but it would be a nice surprise to come home for another week.
Friday was pretty eventful. I decided to visit doctor A because of some issues I was having during the week. She did an ultrasound and the baby looked great. She weighed 4lbs even and was moving pretty good. She then hooked me up to the monitor to check for contractions. Apparently, I am having contractions but they are still irregular and pretty far apart. She put me on continued bed rest until tomorrow when I will be seeing doctor K. She said that I shouldn't be concerned until I have four contractions in one hour. So far they are staying between 20 and 30 minutes apart.
We have exactly three weeks until our scheduled c-section. I am getting so excited! Charlotte will be here before we know it! Thank you for your continued prayers! We will update the blog as soon as we know anything tomorrow. Here's hoping for another week at home!

I want to wish my wife a happy birthday today! This is a huge birthday for you I know. In 25 days we will celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary and 5 days after that, we will see the birth of our first child. You have been through a lot this year, but I want you to know that it will all be worth it. You are my everything, and I could not be the man I am today without you. I love you with all my heart, and I am the luckiest man to be able to call you my wife.

Love,

Grant

Update

Hi everyone! Today we are 30 weeks and 6 days. Only 32 days to go! Yesterday was a day full of doctor’s appointments. We saw Dr. A first and things went well. So far I have gained 27 pounds. From here on out I should be gaining about 1 pound per week. So my grand total should be around 32 pounds by July 27. Let's see if I can hold it to that. Everything checked out fine. They hooked me up to the monitor for a while to monitor her heart beat and kick counts. All is well.
The next appointment was with Dr. K. Here we had an ultrasound to take her measurements and make sure that she was growing at a normal rate. She checked out at 3lbs. 8ozs. We are very happy with this weight! From here on out she should be gaining about 1/2 lb per week. If we make it all the way to July 27 she should be between 5 1/2 to 6 lbs. My next appointment will be July 7 at 8:15 in the morning. At this time he is going to make a decision about my hospital stay. If he thinks that I am continuing to do well then he will let me stay on bed rest at home. If he feels that things are looking risky then he will go ahead and admit me to labor and delivery. In the words of Dr. K "we are sitting on a ticking time bomb. This thing could blow at any moment". Here's hoping we can prove him wrong and make it all the way to July 27!

Construction 3

Well, things didn't go exactly how we thought, but it looks promising. By Tuesday of last week, things were on schedule, but the plumbing became an issue and it took the rest of the week. They had to install an underground pump, and it just so much time. We were hoping this would take a week, but that's renovations for you. So now we have to wait two weeks for them to finish up. But, they did get the washer and dryer downstairs. Sadly, Laura will be at the hospital when they complete it. Oh well. It is just one more exciting thing to come home to.

New Look and Construction Days 1 & 2

Blogger came up with a few new blog templates, so I thought I would add just a little more pink in my life. I think it looks better than the the old layout. What do you think?
So, what is going on with us right now? Well, we thought we might complicate our lives more by deciding to finish our basement this week. I'm joking by the way. We have always wanted to finish our basement, and with us adding the baby room, we needed to give us some more living space. This just wasn't the best timing with Laura weeks away from going to the hospital. So the last few weeks I have been cleaning out four years of stuff, and it did take me weeks to get it all out before the workers came Monday. I stayed home Monday to help out, and I think alot got done.



Today, I went back to work and had to leave Laura home as the work continued. I got home and things are looking good. They have until Friday to finish so I just hope they can make it. I will post new pictures as it comes together.



Grant

Doctor's Visit

On days we see Dr. K, we are always excited to see our little one, but we usually seem to leave with some disappointing news. Today was no different when Dr. K told us that he wants Laura to stay in the hospital the entire month of July before Charlotte is born. This is something we have both wanted to avoid, but he feels this is necessary for the safety of Laura and Charlotte. We thought we were home free from this because things have been going so well, but we were wrong. Dr. K wants Laura to be in the hospital instead of our home in case an emergency does occur. I would like to explain the type of emergency we could be dealing with, but I won't. It's just too much information. So, our lives will change a little quicker than we thought. We will write more about this as the next few weeks go by, and we get ready to make the move to Northside Hospital.

On a lighter note, we did get to see Charlotte again! She is doing great. She is 2 LBS. 11 OZ and all of her measurements are right on track. So we are very thankful for that. We also saw something very cool...Charlotte's Hair! I had no clue you could see hair on the ultrasound, but the technician said she had hair, and lots of it. She also said that she has never seen that much hair on an ultrasound. I have put the picture below.

So, as we move forward, please continue to keep Laura and Charlotte in your prayers and we will talk to you soon. The next doctor's appointment is in two weeks and we will have more information to share at that time.


Grant

Baby Shower!!

We had a blast this past Saturday at our baby shower!!! Thank you to all of our friends and family for such a great celebration. Special thanks go out to the host Meghan and John Loftis, Dustin and Julie Petry and Mandy and Troy Fallaw. Grant and I are so lucky to have such great friends!!! Check out the pictures.